Israel will have to step up military action to combat an intensified Palestinian campaign against Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza, army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz said today.
"I think the incidents of the past few days obligate us to raise the threshold in our amount of action and our pressure on those same terrorists and those who send them," Mr Mofaz said in an interview with Israel Radio.
Mr Mofaz was speaking after two bombings in Israel this week which raised tensions as the death toll from a five-month-old Palestinian uprising rose to at least 413 - 338 Palestinians, 62 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs.
A bomb was detonated without casualties in a Tel Aviv restaurant and a bomb exploded in a taxi in northern Israel at a police roadblock, killing an Israeli, in an attack blamed by Israeli officials on Palestinian militant groups.
On the political front, Israeli Prime Minister-elect Mr Ariel Sharon moved closer to presenting a broad-based coalition government next week after reaching agreement yesterday to bring in two ultra-nationalist parties.
The entry of ultra-nationalist parties Yisrael Beitenu and National Union, together with an alliance with the centre-left Labour Party, brought Mr Sharon within 10 seats of the necessary majority in Israel's 120-member parliament.
Mr Sharon's government also took on a more definite shape after Labour selected lawmakers for the eight cabinet posts their party will hold, picking former general Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer for the key defence portfolio.
Nobel peace laureate Mr Shimon Peres (77) was unopposed in his bid to be Labour's foreign minister in the coalition.